Ruling disallows Arizona's probation ban on medical pot use

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A new court ruling said Arizona judges can't order people
on probation to not use medical marijuana.

A split ruling issued Friday by a three-judge state Court of Appeals panel in
Tucson overturns a Cochise County Superior Court judge's order that a drug-case
probationer not use medical marijuana.

The probationer had agreed to a plea agreement that included the prohibition
but later tried to changed.

The panel's majority ruling said judges can normally prohibit use of marijuana
as a term of probation. But the majority ruling said that authority must bow to
the medical marijuana law's provision that exempts use of marijuana for medical
purposes from criminal laws.

A dissenting judge disagreed, citing the probationer's acceptance of the terms
of his probation.